The difference between pro-life and anti-choice

The Women’s March on Washington, the largest civil rights protest on American soil, generated plenty of criticism from conservatives, men who believe “rabid feminists” are ruining masculinity, and women who claim they don’t need feminism at all. Although this march wasn’t solely a protest against the GOP’s dream of defunding Planned Parenthood and banning abortions, that certainly was an important issue. A week after the Women’s March, thousands of pro-life activists, including our own Vice President Mike Pence, stormed the streets of our nation’s capital chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Roe V. Wade has got to go!” claiming that the March for Life was the true women’s march.

As I watched the snapchat story of the March for Life, I began wondering why those people believe so strongly that Roe vs. Wade ought to be overturned. Are these people truly as Christ-like as they think? Are those who claim to be pro-life genuinely so? I’ve been thinking about the answers to these questions for a long time, and I’ve come to the conclusion that majority of pro-life activists are indeed nothing of the sort, but are in fact anti-choice hypocrites.

Being anti-choice means one believes that the lives needing to be protected are those of the unborn because the unborn do not have a voice. Anti-choicers want to see children born so that they may expand the Kingdom of God, but seldom want to take time out of their day to feed a starving child or volunteer at the local homeless shelter. If the mother is unable to provide for the child after it’s born, the anti-choice activists say she is irresponsible, shouldn’t have sex if she cannot afford a child, or if they’re radical will go as far as to call her a heathen or a slut. They do not care for the health of the mother who carries the miracle of life inside her womb. They will quote scripture at you, condescendingly say they are praying for you, but will not do a single Christ-like thing for someone in their lives.

To be pro-life is to believe all life is sacred, not just unborn children. It’s feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, curing the sick. In present day America, it’s giving a home to a Syrian refugee fleeing from violence and destruction, seeing that children in the inner city get a good education, and making sure every American, rich or poor, receives affordable healthcare. It’s advocating for comprehensive sex education, safe sex, and the use of contraceptives. It’s practicing compassion and empathy for every human life, not only white cis-gendered, rich, Christian Americans.

When I see people protesting at the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo, I get sick to my stomach. They yell horrible things and call the women seeking abortion services names when they do not know them. They do not understand what these women have experienced or what their circumstances are, but they feel the need to make them feel guilty. There’s something deeply wrong with those who feel it’s necessary to tell a woman that God does not love her anymore for having an abortion. Maybe I missed a Sunday School lesson, but I thought in the Ten Commandments God said to love thy neighbor as thyself?

For those who don’t understand, no woman wants to have an abortion. We don’t walk happily into abortion clinics knowing the life we carry will be extinguished. We want to choose life every time, but only if we can properly care for the life. To believe otherwise only displays lack of understanding. If people are offended by this, I’m not sorry. I will not apologize for calling attention to hypocrisy. But when those who are anti-choice start advocating for the use of contraceptives, teaching safe sex instead of abstinence, practicing compassion and empathy for all, only then will I truly believe they are pro-life activists whose mission is to put an end to abortion.

I'm Olivia Lepage ('19) from Westland, Michigan studying Communications and Film. I currently live in the F/M area year round and consider this tundra my second home. I sing Alto 2 and am President of Cantabile, I work at the Circulation Desk in the Carl B., and I do shows with Concordia Theatre as much as I can without spreading myself too thin. Chocolate chip cookies are my only weakness.